Kitchen Backsplash Update.

Remember when we finally painted my kitchen the very palest shade of robin’s egg blue? And how super happy I was? Because, wow, did that simple change make a huge difference in how light and open our kitchen feels.

And then, remember that I said we had a box of glossy white ceramic tile that we bought for $20 on Craigslist, and we were going to redo that ugly tan fake tile backsplash?

Well, we finally completed our backsplash project! And I LOVE it. Here is a before shot:

And some after photos:

Look at all that beautiful, shiny white tile! I LOVE it! But guess what? It was a really tricky little project! I had my first inkling that it might be tricky when Darryl announced, “This is going to be quick and easy!” Um, no. Just don’t ever utter those words before you tackle a project, because then it will definitely NOT be easy. Or quick.

It was an odd space to tile, and the more we got into it, the more we saw why the previous owners just slapped up a roll of fake tile. There was a lot of prep work involved: sanding, smoothing, trimming the shelves down so they’d be even, etc. Thankfully, Darryl’s dad helped us a lot, and got us on the right track. Then, due to the “window” shelves above the sink, we had to cut a bunch of tiles to fit that odd little space. With two young children, this was a project that wound up taking bits and pieces of time here and there over three months.

But now it’s done, and I’m so happy! Hooray for white tile! I find it funny how changing the tile to white has made me crave more white elements in our house. Paint everything white! White walls! White bedspread! White couch! Our house is not huge, and the white just makes it feel more spacious. Of course living with all white is not an option with two busy little boys. Plus I love color too much, as you can see by my colorful dishes in the cabinet.